Often, when I pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed: “Lord, prop us on our leaning side.” Let me share this story with you (and thanks to whoever got this one started on the Internet. My friend, Ross Brown, sent it to me.)
“Lord, prop us up on our leaning side!” After hearing him pray that prayer, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently. His answer is classic.
“Well sir, you see, it’s like this. I got an old barn out back. It’s been there a long time. It’s withstood a lot of weather. It’s gone through a lot of storms and it’s stood for many years.”
He paused for a moment and then continued. “It’s still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit, so I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn’t fall.”
Another thoughtful pause, before he continued. “Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I’ve been around a long time. I have withstood a lot of life’s storms. I have withstood a lot of bad weather in life. I have withstood a lot of hard times. I have developed a bunch of bad habits, and I’m still standing too.”
“But,” he said, “I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, because I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times. Sometimes we get into the bad habit of leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, not taking care of ourselves, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn’t, so we need to pray…LORD, PROP US UP ON OUR LEANING SIDE SO THAT WE WILL ONCE AGAIN, STAND STRAIGHT AND TALL.” (Author Unknown)
Having grown up in the country and in small towns in West Tennessee, I am familiar with old weather-beaten barns that have taken a beating for a lot of years and are now leaning toward an eventual collapse. Life does have a way to beating on us. Life isn’t easy. The storms come. Strong winds blow. The barn represents our life.
Think about it! What if we didn’t have our loving heavenly Father to turn to for some propping up…for the support we need to bear up under in the storms of life? What if we didn’t have the privilege of prayer (and maybe we should use it more than we do)? What if we didn’t have the promises of HIS WORD as “pine poles” to brace our life so that we don’t fall? And, what if we didn’t have GOD’s love, grace, mercy and loving kindness to prop us up when anger, bitterness, hatred and such come against us. These are the “sins of the flesh” that erode the planks of our life and cause to fall on our knees to pray the prayer – “LORD, PROP US UP ON OUR LEANING SIDE.”
The struggle is the same for everyone. To take the egotistical, and hypocritical, position of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day (and they haven’t all died off), is sheer folly. To do so is to live in the world of virtual reality…NOT TRUE REALITY. Why not stop for a brief moment and pray the prayer of this old farmer? Pray, “Lord, prop me up on my leaning side, because I AM leaning.”
Hopefully, this HEART TALK has been a blessing to you. If it has, I would love to hear from you. If you would like to share your burdens with me for some added prayer support, please do so. Mrs. Jones and I are here for you. He cared! We care!
Pastor & Mrs. Jerry Jones